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JAINA STORIES
The monk then gave him some good counsel, after which the king said,
"Oh monk ! You are beautiful and young. Instead of enjoying the pleasures of the world, why did you renounce them so early ?"
"Oh king! The thought of oldage and of death inspires and induces one to court renunciation. But when you actually renounce depends on when the thought comes up to you, and it does not come up to all persons at the same age These are the two eventualities, oldage and death, that expose life in its naked form I was a king myself, but, you see, the thought of these two came pretty early to me, and so I renounced the world in the very prime of my youth Now in the order of the monks, freed from the terror of oldage and death, I roam about in the most natural pleasantness of life "
The king was convined that this was no ordinary person So he asked him about the cause of his present misfortune :
"Holy sire! Only recently, one day, as I was seated in my court chamber, a powerful man picked me up and discarded me in this wilderness Could you be kind enough to enlighten me as to who he was and why did he behave so curiously towards me
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The monk gave the following account to the king:
"There is a god named Amritpriya, a resident of heaven, who called on me only a few days back, and enquired who would be his successor in his heavenly abode after he would vacate from there When I revealed your name, he reacted at once, saying that you were licentious, excessively fond of Srikanta, that you never indulged in spiritual activity, and that, therefore, he did neither approve nor relish the idea of your succeeding him in heaven. I told him that you would be brought here by him, that you would thereafter take the path of religion, be enlightened, acquire sufficient pious karma to be entitled to a heavenly abode. It is for this reason, oh king, you have been brought here by the said god."
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